When 20 Days = 1 year

Over the summer I had set 4 goals for myself for the 2013-2014 school year (they are listed below).  Well, my school year did not last as long as I had anticipated - I only taught 20 days instead of the regular 180.  As many of you know I have moved to a district edtech TOSA position where I will be working with a team of people to help train teachers to use technology in their classrooms - and we are getting ready for CCSS.  So anyway, since my official school year is over...I thought I would reflect back the 2013-2014 year in review (all 20 days of it)...

Here were the four goals I set for myself at the beginning of the school year - and my success level for each during my 20 days:

1. Be in class

This was a big one since I had missed 18% of the school days last year!  Well I am happy to report that I had perfect attendance this year :)  Sure, it was only 20 days - but I was asked to go to two meetings and a training during that time and I said no to all three so I could be there for the students (before I left them).

2. Blogging
Oops!  The goal was to blog twice a week - that just did not happen.  My last blog was on Aug 25th!  That means that during my 20 days of teaching I only blogged one time.  I would count that as a total failure - or as the students say "Epic Fail".  I keep thinking that  my new position will give me new topics to blog about...so we'll see if I can get to blogging more often.

3. Flipping the classroom
This was both successful and not - if that is possible.  I created all the videos and I posted them online for students to view.  But since I knew I was only going to be in the classroom for a few weeks I decided not to do a full flipped classroom model.  I taught the "old fashioned" way but gave students access to my at  home lectures if they wanted.  Some students loved the ability to re-watch lessons - others never clicked on the link.  Overall I think it would have been awesome...but I didn't have the best situation to try it out.

4. Going paperless (or using less paper)
I'm going to count this as a success.  I did not make a copy until my second to last day on the job this year...and that was a common assessment that I had to give on paper :(  My syllabus, safety contract, 5 labs, two study guides, 4 activities and 2 tests were all paperless!  I do have a confession to make though - I was using printed out sheets of paper from last year...like the lab sheets from last year were used again this year.  So during my 20 days in the classroom (including 3 prep days) I only used 172 sheets of paper!  I had to print out 150 sheets for the common assessment (I had some left over from last year for the other 30 students - large class sizes!) and I printed out my roster (12 pages) and my seating charts - twice because I move the students once (5 pages).

In the beginning...

Every summer I take some time to reflect on the last year of teaching and how I can improve, what changes to make and any new things I want to learn over the summer.  This year is no different.  Looking back I have to admit it was not my best year.  I was out of the classroom 18% of the time - most were school related...but still - 18% is a lot of day!  Being out of the classroom that often made it difficult to keep classroom management in line and it felt like we were always playing catch up!

So in the coming year I have set four goals for myself professionally:

1. Be in class

This seems obvious, but I say "yes" to many things which means I end up going here and being there all too often.  I am a member of our district's advanced SDAIE training team, I am part of a cohort of teachers piloting a 1:1 netbook inquiry program, I am a BTSA support provider and last year I was a mentor to another teacher who needed some help getting on track.  Anyway, my school year is usually pretty busy - but I want to be in the classroom more than just 82% of the time this year!

2. Blogging

I started a blog last year and it lasted for about a month and only contained 3 blogs.  This year I am going to (try) blog at least twice a week.  I am going to force myself to sit down and reflect on what I am doing in the classroom each week.  I also will tweet them out and I am sure my great PLN will help keep me focused and offer advice as needed.  I believe blogging will help push me forward...after all, tt seems like all the awesome teachers/admin I follow on Twitter have a blog...and suggest blogging to everyone else.  

3. Flipping the classroom

My chemistry class is broken up in to four units - two before winter break (when did we stop calling it Christmas break?) and two before state testing.  Last year I tried to flip my class after the first unit - but the students did not approve.  I blame myself, I did not really explain what it was or how it would help them.  This year I am going to start off using the flipped model and hopefully things will go a little more smoothly.  I have started making my videos - but what I am most nervous about is the class time - or the prep for the class time!  I know flipping will give me more time to do labs...but labs take time to set up and put away...so hopefully I end up with an awesome TA!

4. Going paperless (or using less paper)

I recently had the pleasure of co-moderating #CAedchat with @SamPatue and @JenRoberts1 about the paperless classroom.  I was inspired by all the teachers who are looking to do the same thing as me - use less paper in the classroom.  This morning during that in and out sleepy state - you know it...the time after you have looked at the clock but before you actually get out of bed - I had a dream.  It was the first day of school and I did not have a syllabus ready for my students.  I quickly grabbed last year's syllabus and ran to the xerox room.  As I was dream copying I was beating myself up over using so much paper on day 1.  When I woke up I knew I needed to get my syllabus ready and put it on Google Docs so I won't need to use paper for it this year!  That will save my first 185 or so pieces of paper!

• By the way - for a great 'going paperless' blog read Sam Patterson's blog  
• Jen Roberts has been nearly paperless for years! Here is her blog

Well that is it! Those are my goals.  I will have to refer back to this post in June to see how it has gone!  Wish me luck...and I wish all of you luck with what ever your goals are for this year!